He reminded us at 11:00 PM Monday night that he had this event the next day. He needed a costume and a short memorized recitation about the life of John Quincy Adams. The good thing was...it's Tillman. So he pretty much already knew everything there was to say about John Quincy Adams. By heart. I just had to dig a vest out of the costume box. Good enough.
Last week....
The Geography Bee, which Tillman won handily. He told me after I took this picture in carpool that he considered missing a question on purpose and throwing the bee so that his classmates wouldn't think he was too nerdy. We had a good laugh at that. I told him to relax and be himself...Geography Champion and all.
Also last week... the 6th Grade Musical Performance. They covered the evolution of classical music from Baroque through Classical and Romantic. Here is a video clip. I thought this one was cute because just before they start singing Abner says "Hi Grace!" and then she can't stop grinning. Love this girl, and not just because she is so stinking cute.
6th grade music performance from Angie Melton on Vimeo.
Finishing up this, our 9th year at Navigator Pointe Academy was a little bitter sweet. We are moving on from the school we helped establish, and which we have loved. In all the years we've been at NPA I never have seriously considered switching schools, because I have been happy with the quality of the education and the philosophy at our school. But this year something was different. I am not sure how to describe it, except to say that I felt restless.
Last summer we talked about moving Jessie to the nearest public middle school (to us and the high school) because she wanted to try out for basketball at the high school. Because that school is not our boundary school, we weren't able to make it work. So, we started the year again at NPA, assuming we could switch her mid-year to our boundary school if she ended up making the team. When she did make the team in the fall, the switch turned out to be more complicated than we thought. But finally we worked it out. When I withdrew Jessie from NPA, that restless feeling just grew stronger.
I felt like so much had changed, like my contribution had been made, like so many of the families we had known had moved on. Things that had been inconveniences and irritations became a bigger deal (the long drive several times a day, issues with administration, the work load...). Things seemed to be growing stagnant. I kept telling Mike about this feeling I had, of needing to move on, that things were just not the same as they had been...
In the spring, when I heard about a new Montessori Charter going up less than 2 miles from us I paid attention. Of all the educational methods out there, Montessori was one I always thought I might consider. One night as I was thinking about submitting our children's names in the enrollment lottery, just before falling asleep the distinct thought came to me that this might be just what Grace needs. The next day I wasted no time in submitted their names. A few days later they had all be selected in the lottery (thanks to our middle school-aged children I am sure).
I left them enrolled at NPA for a while so I could mull things over and make a final decision. I went to a parent meeting for the new school with Noble. He got excited. I emailed the board chair and asked more about specific curriculum, which put me at ease. The more I thought about it, the better I felt.
The Special Ed staff at NPA has been so attentive to Grace and have helped her so much, but I have had this lingering thought: Grace is bright. She is very perceptive. She has no biological disability per se. Her learning disability doesn't really have a name...there is nothing developmentally wrong. She just looks at things differently. She struggles to recall things presented in the traditional way. So theoretically, within the right framework, shouldn't she be able to learn and develop without "special accommodations"?
As she has gotten older it has begun to bother her more to receive accommodations at school. She wants to be normal. Or at least she wants to be different and unique on her terms. She doesn't want to have to be helped all the time anymore. I absolutely support her desire to do for herself. My hope is with the more self-paced approach of Montessori, along with the larger variety of learning techniques...maybe Grace won't think of herself as learning disabled.
Even with all the help she received at NPA, the curriculum was still very demanding. Sometimes we found ourselves, even the Special Ed. staff and teachers, just helping her go through the motions, just to get her through it. One example is the heavy emphasis that NPA puts on grammar. While I whole-heartedly support the teaching of grammar, even to young children, NPA's grammar program is INTENSE. They go deep. My kids who have grown up in the program can probably use their prodigious knowledge of incredibly obscure grammar rules someday as a party trick to impress their friends...like Rain Man, or other savants. Or, more likely, they will decide that most of that knowledge is superfluous, and forget it. It was just the type of thing that Grace struggles with most: Lots (and lots) of rules to memorize, with a completely abstract application. She could NOT get it (neither could I). Her teachers recognized it. The Special Ed. staff knew it. And yet, she had to plow through all the same grammar curriculum as everyone else was expected to. Even with accommodations, it was overwhelming to her. The only solution was to just give her a pass; not actually do it for her, but provide so much help, that her grammar lessons were pretty much meaningless. And all the while, I kept thinking, "Why don't we just back off grammar a little? Help her really understand the most important parts, the most applicable for her later life, and then move on? Wouldn't a more basic Core-required proficiency be preferable to pretending that she understands the deepest grammar minutia, the result being a conditioned hatred of grammar in general?
I am all for relaxing a little on the reigns when it's appropriate.
We found out after we'd made our decision to switch to the Montessori school next year that one of the Special Ed. teachers will be coming to the new school. We wish we could also have her 6th grade teacher come along. I can't say enough about Mrs. Kelly. Hands-down the most dedicated and inspiring teacher my kids have ever had. She nurtured Grace. And because of her Grace loved school...even with all the obstacles she faced there. We will miss a lot of things about NPA, not least, the relationships we developed there. And the memories.
NPA has a uniform sale at the end of each year where parents can come sell their used uniforms. I told the kids if they would gather all their usable uniform items, wash them and prepare them for the sale, that they could keep the money for anything they sold. I was amazed at how much clothing we have accumulated over the years (some of it came out of our hand-me-down bin that I keep when kids outgrow stuff, to pass on to the next younger sibling --- there's always one at our house). I took in 64 items. And later I discovered about 20 more that were still in the wash and in another bin in the storage room. It felt good to divest ourselves of this giant collection of clothing. Hopefully the kids will get a little moolah.
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| Our sale items ready to be dropped off. |
You'll find us here.
